Chapter 24: The Big Game

That Thursday morning, the very next day after her and Marcus's sort of humiliating moment with the pompous Percy Weasley, Poppy had a very nice lesson in Muggle Studies. It was one of her favourite subjects, partly because Muggles were really interesting and partly because the only other Slytherin in the class was a boy that never spoke two words to anybody. She also had a double lesson of Herbology, where she was forced to listen to Cho Chang gossiping to her friend, Marietta. The hottest topics of the moment seemed to be Grace and Graham, the upcoming Quidditch match and the mysterious and frequent absences of Professor Lupin.

As two of the three topics at least partly concerned her, Poppy could only hope the girls would not drag her into the conversation. When Cho motioned for her to come closer, she knew all hope had been lost. Poppy grabbed the Flutterby bush she'd been pruning, and moved to the other side of the table they had all been working on.

"What do you want?" Poppy blurted out bluntly. Cho was not her friend and had been quite unpleasant to her in the past. Poppy noticed Cho and Marietta's Flutterby bush had been pruned all wrong. The small branches were beginning to curl inwards. Poppy cringed while looking at it. Noticing her, Marietta quickly grabbed small scissors from the table and started hacking away.

Cho flipped back her long black hair and rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be so rude. I just have some questions."

"Fine. Ask." Poppy reached for her own scissors, held a branch between her fingers and made a cut. Perfect, diagonal and carefully planned out. Marietta shot her a mean look.

Cho yanked the scissors from Marietta's hands. "What is your friend doing with that Montague boy?"

Poppy turned to look at Cho and shrugged. "Whatever she wants, probably."

"So, they're not serious?" Cho asked, trying to sound casual but her face gave away her eagerness.

Poppy's lips curved into a smile. "Are you interested in him or something?"

Cho rolled her eyes again and scoffed. "No."

As Poppy studied Cho's expression, from the corner of her eye she noticed a slight blush appearing on Marietta's cheeks. When Poppy turned to look at her, Marietta quickly turned away, knocking down their Flutterby bush.

"She seems to be," Poppy said as Marietta cleaned up. Cho's upper lip twitched as she looked from Poppy to Marietta and back again.

"You can go now," Cho said firmly. Poppy flashed a big smile before retreating to the other end of the greenhouse.

After Herbology, it was lunch time. Arriving in the Great Hall, Poppy saw that Marcus wasn't there yet but she spotted Grace, who was motioning for her to come over.

"You're such a slag!" Grace shouted, beaming like a crazy person, as Poppy sat down next to her.

"Am not! What are you talking about?" Poppy said quietly, trying to make Grace quiet down a little. A few Hufflepuffs were giving them weird looks.

Grace leaned in closer. "Fred and George told me what happened last night."

"Fred and George?" What did Fred and George Weasley have to do with anything? How, and most importantly what, did they know?

"Yes. They're in my Potions class. I'm so proud of you, you little trollop!" Grace smiled widely. Poppy looked puzzled but Grace read her mind and answered her question before she even asked. "Percy told Oliver and they overheard."

"Oliver knows?" Poppy could at least take comfort in the fact that Percy had probably not twisted the story in any way, but it was a small comfort.

"Yes, but who cares?" Grace asked.

"I care! I don't want him to know about these things!"

Poppy didn't even care if the rest of the school found out or made up their own versions, but she didn't want Oliver to know. She had seen him cringing at her and Marcus just for holding hands.

"You're freaking out over nothing. It's not like you were naked," Grace said.

Poppy sighed and shook her head, making Grace respond by rolling her eyes. Knowing Grace probably wouldn't understand, Poppy decided to change the subject. "Marietta Edgecombe seems to be interested in Graham."

"Who?" Grace asked, scrunching up her face.

"Cho Chang's friend. You know her. She has reddish, curly hair," Poppy explained as Grace nodded along, trying to place a face to a name.

"Oh, yeah. Why should I care?" Grace asked.

"They were asking me if you're serious with him. They might try to break you up."

Grace let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "We're not dating. Graham is perfectly free to snog all the girls he wants."

Poppy studied Grace's nonchalant expression. "Has he?"

"Don't know, don't care. You can tell that girl to go for it," Grace said with a shrug.

Poppy tilted her head to the left, trying to see if Grace was just bluffing. Grace remained unflappable. "I might never understand you."

"I wonder what she sees in him, though," Grace wondered while she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Probably the same as everyone else. Good looks, rich family."

Marcus never arrived to lunch. Poppy was about to head to her next class when she spotted Oliver rushing out of the Great Hall. She ran after him, calling his name. He stopped and then turned around with a quizzical look.

"Oliver! I know Percy told you," Poppy said before she even reached him.

Oliver's brows furrowed and he shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What?" Poppy asked, taken aback by his response.

"I can't remember Percy telling me anything," Oliver said, looking her straight in the eyes.

Poppy searched her brothers eyes to see if it was true. She couldn't tell. Did the many bludgers he'd taken to the head finally catch up to him? "You're joking? Last night?"

"Poppy! I don't remember. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not important," Oliver said, this time slightly more pressing.

She knew from his voice not to push the matter. Oliver had decided to live in denial and maybe it would be for the best. Poppy didn't even have a chance to finish that thought when a familiar voice snapped her out of it.

"I missed lunch? Bloody hell!" Marcus called out as he stomped towards them and peered into the Great Hall to see the giant platters of food disappearing.

"Where were you?" Poppy asked.

Marcus turned to her, about to say something but glanced over to Oliver and closed his mouth again. He hesitated. "I had some Quidditch related matters to tend to." Poppy knew he was lying.

"Should be a great game," Oliver piped up.

"We'll see," Poppy said with a shrug.

Oliver tilted his head and looked at his sister with a warm smile. "I have complete confidence in you, sis. You were trained by the best."

"Why thank you," Marcus said, puffing up his chest.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I meant myself."

Oliver headed to class, leaving Poppy to think about his kind words but her mind quickly wandered back to Marcus. "Why did you lie about where you were?"

"I didn't," he insisted. Poppy crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side and gave him a stern look. He caved. "I went to tell that tosser Weasley to stop running his mouth around the school."

"You beat him up?" Poppy asked, nearly shouting the words.

Marcus shook his head. "Of course not! I would be banned from playing! I'm not completely daft."

"I know." She let her arms fall back to her sides.

"And it turns out, it wasn't even him." He ran his hand through his hair.

Poppy smiled. "I know." Marcus looked at her with a question mark on his face before letting out a small laugh.

"You should get to class," he said.

The next Saturday, on the morning of the big game against Gryffindor, the Slytherin Quidditch team assembled in their changing room. They were mostly in good spirits, having had a succesful practice the night before, but the mood was still tense. As Poppy adjusted her arm guards, she saw Adrian motioning from across the room. They hadn't spoken in two weeks. Poppy got up from the bench and walked over.

"What do you want?" she asked, sounding slightly more annoyed than she wanted to.

Adrian was taken aback. "To apologise."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry for calling you stupid," Adrian said, rubbing the back of his neck. He really did look sorry.

"It's fine, you were mad," Poppy said with a hint of a smile. She wasn't the type to hold grudges for long and she was somewhat lacking in the friends department, meaning she couldn't afford to lose any. "I'm sorry for suggesting you're still pining after me."

She'd had two weeks to try and figure out why exactly Adrian was acting the way he was. She couldn't quite pinpoint the reason but she knew it probably wasn't due to his undying love for her. The whole idea seemed ridiculous as she usually wasn't the self-involved type.

The corners of Adrian's mouth curved upwards. "I get how it might seem like that, but I'm just trying to look out for you. And if you think he's a good guy, then I'm on board with that"

He confirmed her suspicions. His intensions had been good though his methods could use some work.

"Friends?" Poppy asked.

"Definitely," Adrian replied with a big smile and Poppy returned the gesture.

"I get it now," she said.

"Huh?"

"Why everybody thinks you're the only decent Slytherin."

The other Slytherins usually called Adrian that in an attempt at malice but Poppy sincerely meant it. His face reddened but he didn't have a chance to respond before Marcus called his team to gather around him. He kept his speech short yet definitely not sweet. Intense was the best word Poppy could think of to described it. Hopeful, too.

Both teams walked onto the pitch. A sea of red and gold flags, banners, sweaters and scarves filled the stands apart from one section of disgruntled Slytherins dressed in green and silver. Poppy tried to look for Grace but couldn't locate her. Grace had insisted on borrowing Poppy's scarf, but Poppy was sure she wouldn't actually wear it. She would have to be crazy to wear Slytherin attire in front of her housemates. Poppy didn't mind that most of the school wanted Gryffindor to win. Quidditch, luckily, was not a popularity contest.

Madam Hooch called everyone to the center. As the two Captains shook hands, Marcus squeezed so hard he nearly crushed Oliver's fingers.

"For old time's sake," he said with a crooked smile.

The game seemed turned out to be the most violent Poppy had seen in a long time. Marcus almost knocked Angelina Johnson off her broom so Fred Weasley threw his bat into the back of Marcus's head. He was knocked forward and his nose hit the handle of his broom. It bled profusely through the rest of the game. Graham grabbed Katie Bell's head and tried to claim he thought it was the Quaffle. Derrick and Bole swung two bludgers straight into Oliver's stomach. Malfoy grabbed Potter's broom. The Gryffindors scored on almost all their penalty shots and when the game was Gryffindor's eighty points to Slytherin's twenty, Harry Potter caught the snitch.

Poppy had missed almost all the shots the Gryffindor's took. Everybody else had broken a bunch of rules, but she had been, in her mind, the worst player. The whole school poured out onto the pitch to congratulate the Gryffindor team. People jumped up and down and lifted Harry Potter into the air. Poppy and Marcus stood silently at the edge. The rest of their team had already cleared out. Poppy didn't know what to say. She watched as Marcus studied the overjoyed crowd with furrowed brows and pursed lips. Oliver spotted them and broke free from the crowd. He approached them with a smile.

He tapped his hand to Poppy's shoulder. "You were good."

Poppy rolled her eyes and removed his hand. "I guess you were better."

She crossed her arms and watched as his smile slipped away. She was happy for him, at least she wanted to be, but it was hard when all she wanted to do was to be miserable about their loss. Why had she even pushed her way onto the team? Slytherin was winning just fine without her.

"Good game," Marcus said to break the silence.

"Rather foul, I would say," Oliver said, snapping out of thought. He smiled again, but only a little.

"By your side as much as mine," Marcus said and gestured towards his nose. Blood had dripped all the way down his chin and neck onto his Quidditch robes.

"Well, almost," Oliver said. He motioned towards the crowd, said goodbye and rejoined the celebration. The crowd was now carrying Potter towards the castle.

"It's my fault we lost," Poppy said when Oliver was out of earshot. Marcus turned to face her and shrugged.

"Losing, much like winning, is a team effort," he said calmly, looking straight into her eyes. His face was relaxed, nothing like it had been before or during the game.

Poppy raised an eyebrow. "You're not mad?"

He looked at her confused expression and smiled. "At you? No. Everybody else? Yes."

"How is that fair?" Poppy asked, annoyed by his tone. He should've been angry. Marcus was terrible at losing, they had that in common.

"It probably isn't." He grabbed her hand and tried to pull her closer, but she whipped her hand out of his grasp. The smile fell from his face.

"You should be mad! I messed up, a lot!" Poppy shouted.

"I can't be mad at you."

His words only made her angrier. He was supposed to treat her like any other player. Had it been Malfoy standing next to him, he would've had no problem expressing his feelings. "Try!"

"You really want me to be mad?"

She nodded frantically. "Yes! I'm furious with myself and it would help if you could just be angry with me and not tell me everything's alright!"

"That's insane." He still wasn't mad, rather he looked amused.

"No it isn't! We lost! Be angry! I fucked up! Malfoy definitely fucked up! And don't even get me started on Graham!" Poppy was ranting. His indifferent attitude was making her rant.

He looked calmly into her eyes. "You know, I really love you."

"Well, I fucking love you too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to-"

She stopped dead in the midst of her sentence. There it was. The three words she'd been so worried about not being able to say. Wanting to be sure she meant them, wanting the perfect moment. This was not the perfect moment or the perfect way to say them, but Marcus didn't seem to care. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Took you long enough."